A part of the San Diego Computer Museum at SDSU

Data Communications Technology from Telegraph to Digital Transmission

Don Robert House, Curator Emeritus: Email

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The computer museum collection(s) are currently in storage as we look for funding sources to process the collection(s). Although the majority of these collections are not accessible to the public, there are currently two exhibits in the library displaying items from the collection: the first highlights early portable computers and the second early video game consoles.

Previous update from early 2000… The entire San Diego Computer Museum and North American Data Communications Museum collections have been gifted to San Diego State University Library. This arrangement represents our best hopes to not only preserve these rare and valuable historical resources, but will also allow the public to continue to enjoy them in a proper and appropriate setting. We hope that this gift will allow the work and aspirations of many people over the past twenty-three years to live on in the spirit of our original mission – to preserve, display, and demonstrate computing and data communications history for the enjoyment and education of all. To many of you who have volunteered, worked for and supported the Computer Museum of America, San Diego Computer Museum, and the North American Data Communications Museum, we express our greatest admiration and heartfelt thanks.

Curator Emeritus – Don Robert House Email Icon Don the gardner; Don with Packard.


TTY Globe ImageMission Statement

The North American Data Communications Museum (NADCOMM) is committed to the project of collecting, displaying, and operating the equipment which has powered the communications revolutions of the twentieth century, from telegraphy to digital telephony. The collection, largely donated by committed telecommunications workers and businesses, already encompasses a wide array of machines spanning the entire history of teletype and the transition to contemporary digital modem technology.

NADCOMM’s goal is to counter the present state of communications history, marked by the quick and successive obsolescence of “last year’s models,” by maintaining a working collection of functional equipment tracing the stages through which teletechnology has passed.

Curator Don Robert House and the NADCOMM staff believe that this project involves more than the nostalgia of the technophile. The advances in technology preserved in the NADCOMM collection have shaped not only the present state of technology but economic, social, and cultural history through their use in industry and mass media.

Whether or not we accept the premise that these advances mark the transition of world history into a wholly new postmodern “Information Age,” their impact on contemporary culture makes the unique project of NADCOMM a vital one. Moreover, the fact that equipment is displayed in a functioning state means that the NADCOMM collection remains a valuable resource for hands-on technological training for the communications professional and the interested layperson alike.

Richard House
NADCOMM Public Relations
November 1997

NADCOMM – The North American Communications Museum is a fully integrated department of the San Diego Computer Museum, a Not for Profit, Public Benefit Corporation. Our museum is an educational and scientific museum. Donations are tax deductible under provisions in the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3)

“Donations are deductible as cultural items, we are not a charity. We are an educational and scientific volunteer museum.”

Patrons and Benefactors ———————————————

Companies:

Individual Benefactors:

  • David F. Alm
  • Roger F. Bindl
  • Warren Brader Exec Director
  • Joseph I. Brown
  • Lorence Brown
  • John Burch
  • Anthony Cacioppo
  • Bill Calk
  • Joan Cannon
  • Kenneth Clinkman Director
  • Robert Cnota Director
  • Marvin Collins
  • Bob Cook
  • Dean Corcoran
  • Michael Daleen
  • John Davis
  • Donald Drake
  • Ed Eheman
  • John Ellis
  • Kent Faust
  • Larry Fey, Sr
  • Frank Frisch Director
  • Herman Flaminio
  • Rocky Flaminio
  • Thomas Flaminio
  • William Florian
  • Francis O. Frisch
  • Harold Frith
  • Harold Gavello
  • Robert C. Gordon
  • Carter Grabarczyk
  • Barrington Hall
  • Roger L. Harrison
  • Jack Hart Director
  • James B. Harvey
  • Patrick Harvey
  • James Haynes Director
  • Bill Henry Director
  • Edward M. Hickey Director
  • James L Hill
  • James W Hill
  • John Hoepker
  • Thomas Hoitenga
  • Richard A. House
  • Glenna K. House
  • William R. House
  • George Hutchison Director
  • Fred A. Jamison
  • Steve Kissenger Director
  • John Kleinschmidt
  • Tom Kleinschmidt Director
  • Raymond Kostalek
  • Frederick J. Kiko
  • Edward Kohout
  • Nolan Lee
  • John Leonard
  • Robert T. Liddy Director
  • James Mscintosh
  • Timothy J. Marvin
  • Donald Merz
  • Milton D. Norstrom
  • Kenneth R. Oakley
  • Michael Optie
  • John Papay
  • Charles Ring
  • Joseph Rizzo
  • Philip Schelinski Director
  • Kevin Schultz
  • Gill Smit Director
  • Ben Stevens Director
  • Al Tipsword
  • Robert Unsworth
  • Michael Vinocur
  • John C. Wilson 5/9/2004
  • Earl Wirtz
  • James Wright
  • James Zarembski
  • Wallace Murray
  • Roy Norris

Other Communications Sites:

 

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